And how can I not love that? Regardless of stats there are always a favorite few who are loyal in comments and sharing their own kind of wisdom. When I get an award I always graciously pass it on to those loyal few who comment regularly. There are so many more I regularly read and love and Lord knows there will be more..insatiable appetite I have..and I would like to share all of them with you..but then you could not possibly read them all without abandoning your own loyal following.

I have to apologize to others who have passed awards on to me. I went through a period of totally being overwhelmed so know I missed someone. (today I cleared out almost 4,000 emails from posts and bloggers that came in in the last month or so). Do let me know so I can credit you.

I can’t possibly give you a list of things you don’t know about me…damn my transparency but I can give you a list of folk to follow in addition to the addys above: (Many have already received awards and may want to pass. For the others I send you blessings and thank you for making my day that much brighter!)

It was a day of no specific consequence other than the business of daily living, laughing and just plain old surviving until it dawned that revelatory stats on WordPress.com …uh…revealed an opportunity to match 2 milestones; post number 200 coinciding with my site’s 10,000th hit. I had control of the number of posts but none over the number of hits.

Most of you will not believe this or will at least look askance at this next bit of information but I am a pretty shy person…okay two minutes to ROFLAO but that’s it…now really it’s a well kept secret because I pretend not to be shy. I know, I know…I have been admittedly brazen and / or brash on occasion but but but….

Anyway regardless of my natural nature I just had to reach 10,000 views so I cautiously stepped out of my shy pod to send out a request to everyone I could reach so….I posted my plea on Facebook and then sent an email to as many contacts I had, which given my shy nature (remember) is not a long list but is a valuable list.

Now here is the Amazing Part:
I posted that I needed 77 hits and received 153 which by the way is an all time new one day total.

What took it from a day in November to an early Christmas or Birthday gift? The numbers..yes and ..the comments!

The very first comment came minutes after posting from my friend Mary on Facebook. The Delightful Divine Ms. M. has come to my rescue more than once, (once having driven to a little berg in the middle night to pick myself and belongings following the breakup with one of those kissing frogs and giving me tea and sympathy and a roof over my head!…ooo so long ago…yikes). The point is..we may not see each other often but my friend Mary saves me and was the first to respond!

Mark, who is not, but who writes under the moniker ‘TheIdiotSpeaketh’ at redriverpak.wordpress.com was most kind.
“Congrats Chris! I see you have raced past the 10,000 views mark….. I undoubtedly was, in fact, the 10,000th visitor, without a doubt…… what did I win? Is there a prize?….or cake? I was told there would be cake….. where’s the dang cake?…….come on now….cough up the cake Chris! ……. Seriously, congrats and wishing you continued blogging success”

This Texas gent who has my upmost respect for his work and readership actually was enthusiastic about my small achievement.(To put it in perspective he hits 100,000 or so a month..yup all those zeros are accurate…it’s sort of like some big star encouraging a protégée forward. ) NOW all you age thinkers who know our true age disparity and who would prefer to think of Mr. Pakulak helping an old lady across the road instead of protogeeing just step back.

Judith, my New Zealand blogging friend and often inspiration at “growingyoungereachday.wordpress.com” is also being kind. We have been blogging about the same time and she is a beacon I follow.
‘Greetings lovely princess and congratulations on 10,000 hits.’

Souldipper is a west coast delight who so makes me want to move to The Island and share her experiences.
souldipper.wordpress.com
‘Congrats, Your Royal Highness. May your realm continue to grow in leaps and bounds. Or…is that what you want the frog to do? Whatever…progress, not perfection! ‘

Cecilia has an amazing site who makes me feel…yes it can be done!
thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com
“Awesome! and so many hits, you must be doing something right, Princess!

Katherine Gordy Levine at emotfit.wordpress.com is always informative and supportive and very complimentary although the envy is often reversed.
“Step by step, hour by hour, keep moving forward. You always turn my skin frog green with envy when I read your posts. You write girl as they would say on the streets of Harlem.”

Sister Act
What can I say? She is my sister and my best friend!
“You always make me pause to think Thank you”

sister act
“excellent I always enjoy your writing”

sister act
“you are so right all them frogs one must be a prince. youd think. Thank you for a nice thought”

So thank you all who read and all who commented..you sure made this one nice day!